HKFP Lens: Echoes of Occupy HK in Malaysia as up to 250,000 pro-democracy protesters hit the streets

Thousands of Malaysians took to the streets this weekend, clad in yellow, echoing scenes from Hong Kong’s Occupy protests last September. Demonstrators called upon Prime Minister Najib Razak to quit over a financial scandal involving a US$700m (HK$5.4b) payment he received from unnamed foreign donors. Other protest slogans included “Clean Elections”, “Clean Government”, “Save the Economy” and “The Right to Dissent”.

Police said that around 25,000 people attended the rally on Saturday as Bersih 2.0, the pro-democracy coalition behind the protest, put the figure at 200,000. Many demonstrators slept out on the streets overnight as the rally continued into Sunday.

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